Sustainable Living Center Hostels

Description

Sustainable Living Center (SLC) hostels employ energy- and resource-efficient practices to educate both travelers and the local community about sustainable living. 

Hostels provide a unique opportunity in this regard because, unlike other temporary accommodations such as hotels, in a hostel people participate in the daily household activities. They cook, do laundry and other household chores. In this way, Sustainable Living Center hostels become experiential laboratories where people can participate in low-impact lifestyles that are easily transferred into their homes and workplaces.

In order to participate in the Sustainable Living Center program, each hostel must develop environmentally-friendly programs such as energy conservation, water conservation, waste reduction and nontoxic product usage. SLC hostels principally use off-the-shelf, simple economical technology and resources to make hostels energy, water and waste efficient. Fluorescent lighting, insulation and low-flow faucets and shower heads are examples of the types of technologies that are commonly employed.

But what enables the program to work within the diverse hostel community -- hostels are large and small, urban and rural and located in many different climates -- is the flexibility that is granted to hostel managers to tailor projects to their specific environments and communities. The Harper's Ferry, Maryland hostel managers, for example, planned an overnight program for inner-city youth that included household conservation, Appalachian Trail maintenance and Black history.

Originally, Hostelling International-American Youth Hostels' (HI-AYH) goal was to work with four hostels to establish organizational models. However, due to hostel managers' enthusiastic response, more than 20 hostels volunteered to participate.

Program Highlights

• An action guide assists hostel managers with their efforts to become SLCs. The book offers simple program implementation instruction, concrete examples, and lists of resources.
• Hostel managers are encouraged to exercise their independence and creativity to engage in low-impact living practices that are specific to their communities:
 
• A hostel manager in a Pennsylvania state park picks up undeliverable mail from the local post office and takes it to a paper mill for recycling.
• The manager at Martha's Vineyard hostel organizes hostellers as volunteers for local nature conservation projects.
• The Austin, Texas hostel involves at-risk youth in water testing.
• One hostel practices vermicomposting (introducing worms into the compost).
• The San Francisco regional office conducts environmental programs for inner-city youth at coastal hostels.
• The Crowley Lake, California hostel manager maintains National Forest trails and takes hostellers out on interpretive trips.
• Graduate students in architectural design in the Ecological Design Program at University of California (Berkeley) developed and executed plans for four San Francisco Bay hostels to become advanced SLC hostels.

Vital Statistics

Program Management/Partnerships: Hostelling International-American Youth Hostels is a member of Green Seal and works in partnership with the International Youth Hostel Federation, Human-i-Tees, University of California (Berkeley) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Green Lights program. Seed money for the project was provided by the International Youth Hostel Federation and the Pew Charitable Trusts. 

Budget: Hostel managers and regional offices share in the cost by covering environmental retrofits and local program development.

Community Served: Hostel guests, who come from hundreds of nations and stay in the more than 200 Hostelling International hostels worldwide. These hostels are used by youth groups, school groups, senior citizens and individual travellers, and are located in inner cities, suburbs, state and national parks, historic sites, small towns and Native American reservations.

Measures of Success:

Utility bills at all participating hostels have been cut by 20%, and all have reduced waste production through recycling, reuse, and composting.

Hostelling International - New York, the flagship 480-bed facility, recently teamed up with its utility company to install compact fluorescent lights in all fixtures. The hostel expects to reduce energy consumption and reduce its energy bills by 20%.

The 16 Sustainable Living Center hostels in 11 states have provided more than 230,000 accommodations.

The SLC program has been awarded the "Tourism for Tomorrow" Award from British Airways.